James Harden and the Houston Rockets are on the verge of breaking

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Houston Rockets star James Harden is not directly answering questions about his desire to be traded during his first media availability since his brief backlog at the start of training camp.

“Right now, I’m just focused on being here,” Harden said in March, a day after playing 21 minutes in a preseason win over the San Antonio Spurs. “It was good today. Yesterday I felt really good being there for the first time since the bubble. I didn’t really get a chance to do a lot of 5-on-5 work, but considering it was the first time, I felt pretty good.”

Harden, a perennial All-Star who according to sources requests a change to a selective list of contents that includes the Brooklyn Nets and the Philadelphia 76ers, did not receive permission to practice until Monday due to his late arrival at training camp.

Harden traveled to Atlanta for rapper Lil Baby’s birthday party and then to Las Vegas, where he socialized in clubs, during the period when NBA players debated some coronavirus tests and participated in individual training in equipment facilities and self-quarantine outside essential activities.

“He was just training,” Harden said when asked what point he was trying to convey by making trips instead of showing up at the training camp on time.

When asked why he was coaching, Harden said, “The beginning of the NBA season.” I made him work with “my personal trainers” on the trip.

Harden did not report to Houston until Dec. 8, two days after the Rockets began team practice. They missed the Rockets’ first two preseason games and acknowledged that he is “in the mood to catch up” with game conditioning and learning the systems from Houston freshman coach Stephen Silas.

“I can only concentrate right now, and for me, the best thing for James Harden is to make sure I’m fit,” Harden said. “Like I said, I hadn’t even had a chance to play 5 to 5. Individual training, when you do individual basketball training, it’s great, but as we all NBA players say, there’s nothing like training 5 to 5. the physical game, the field readings and stuff like that. Yesterday, considering it was my first time, I felt good and that’s exciting. “

Harden’s request for change is the elephant in the locker room that the Rockets refuse to discuss, both in the media and with the franchise’s face.

“Since I’ve been here, nothing has been said about it,” Harden said. “Everyone in the locker room and coaching staff have focused on improving and preparing for the season. That’s all that matters.”

Ese has been an intentional approach by coaches and teammates in the Rockets, who collectively pledge to focus on basketball amid the possible distractions of the Harden saga.

“I don’t try to ask him about that because that’s a personal matter,” the shipowner said John Wall, a former All-Star who was recently acquired by the Washington Wizards along with a future first-round protected selection for Russell Westbrook. “The only thing that worries me is what we can do to make this Rockets team the best it can be while everyone is here and moving on.”

DeMarcus Cousins, the former All-Star center who, like Wall, is trying to get back with the Rockets after multiple serious injuries, expressing a similar feeling.

“At the end of the day, this is a business,” Cousins ​​said. “You can only respect a man for doing what he thinks is best for him, his personal life and his career. So, no, honestly, I haven’t [tratado de convencer a Harden de que se comprometa con los Rockets], and I will not. I really don’t feel like that’s my place. That is a decision he must make on his own. “

“My job is, while we’re on the court and in practice, to hold everyone accountable. We’re going to come in and work every day and try to improve every day. I control what you can control. For the boys who are on the court , let’s go to war. “

Harden praised Silas, a longtime NBA assistant who was recently the offensive coordinator of the Dallas Mavericks, but you barely communicated until this week. His conversations have focused on basketball strategy.

“If we knew exactly where his head was, I think it would be good for everyone,” Silas said. “But we’re dealing with reality, which is that things change day by day, things change from game to game. Like I said before, my job is to coach this basketball team and make sure the boys are in the right positions. “Part of that is the spirit of the group, and I think the spirit of the group, especially based on last night ‘s game, is pretty good.”

Silas has said several times that he will focus on directing and letting the head office take personal decisions, as he will potentially change Harden.

When asked if he relied on newly promoted general manager Rafael Stone, Harden responded to the media: “We haven’t had a conversation.”

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